Archive for June, 2018

All is well in the gardens. We are keeping up with the weeding-just keeping up but keeping up and not overwhelmed. A HUGE second rotation of broccoli went out this past week, and another seeded in the greenhouse for a final rotation down the road.

Scott is trellising up the tomatoes that are growing tall and we marvel at the big tomatoes developing. A funny story….The neighbor and Scott were chatting by the tomato patch and the neighbor asks….”what’s all that fluffy yellow stuff in your tomatoes…?” Scott turned around not knowing what on earth he was referring to and looked, paused and said BLOSSOMS! Fingers crossed maybe our best tomato year in a long time…..

Cherry tomato plants loaded with blossoms…

Slice tomatoes developing.

1st Cherry tomatoes ripening.

More carrots seeded in again and harvest is slowly taking over our days. Hours were spent with the peas and the carrot harvest took the better part of an afternoon by the time we got them out cleaned and weighed for the share. Summer is here and 4th of July around the corner.

Hauling up the morning pea harvest.

SUMMER SHARE 4

277 pounds of fantastic produce this week in the shares. Enjoy it all…..

Lettuce-2 rotations of wonderful lettuces were ready to harvest this week from the hoop house. Beautiful and complimentary textures too. Both varieties in every share.

Pac Choi-A favorite crop of mine…I love the juicy stalks in salads, and also in stir fry. It is my go to green in our juicing too. Delicious.

Pac Choi at harvest.

Pac Choi chilling in it’s 3rd rinse after an early morning harvest.

Pac Choi ready to be bagged for the shares.

Garlic Scapes-2nd and final week of these babies…we switch to fresh garlic next.

Maeve was the garlic scape bundler again this week.

Zucchini-It’s here in all it’s glory. We planted several varieties and a mix will appear in the shares for many week’s to come. We pick them small every morning. 4 in Full Share this week, 2 in Snack Pack.

Morning Zucchini harvest.

Sugar Snap Peas-A bounty and a nice big bag in every share….

Morning Sugar snap, snow and shell pea harvest. We pick every other day…

A steamy wet week here but we powered through with a rain suit and outfit changes… There is nothing like rain water, a good lightning storm or 2 and heat to make your garden grow. Plants doubled in size and filled out at an almost unbelievable pace.

We transplanted out more baby cabbage, weeded through the brussels sprouts and still walk the cucumber lines daily to guide those vines up. A second loooooong planting of carrots went in the hoop house and the existing outside carrot patch thinned and weeded. Believe it or not fall crops are being seeded into cells in the greenhouse. We are chugging along and it feels great.

Garlic Scapes-A harvest we always look forward to! Great garlic flavor. Use as you would garlic cloves.

Cutting the garlic scapes on a hot morning.

Hauling the harvest from the field.

Cleaned garlic scapes ready to bundle for the shares.

The Garlic Scape bundling factory.

Butterhead Lettuce-A tricky lettuce to grow in heat and we did it. Sweet juicy and perfect. Enjoy!

Perfect butterhead lettuce….

Butter head lettuce soaking in the dunk tank.

Leaf Lettuce-This is the end of the leaf lettuce until cooler temperatures return.

Leaf Lettuce harvest at 5:30 a.m. before the heat of the day sets in.

Asian greens mix-A slightly spicy mix. Enjoy fresh or saute.

Also an early morning harvest before the heat sets in for the day.

Broccoli!!-We are thrilled with the harvest. AND blown away that it is so early and abundant after the cold late Spring.

Broccoli Harvest.

Another Day of Broccoli harvest in a light rain.

Perfect early Broccoli-a small beaded variety called Blue Wind.

Broccoli Side Shoots-(Full Share ONLY)-The first time we grew this early variety. Small heads and abundant side shoots and extra early.

Zucchini-(Full Share ONLY)-1st pick of the season and the patch is ready to go….

1st zucchini harvest of the season.

Fennel-A great harvest of this delicious treat- Shave bulb in fresh salads or use the wispy fronds in your fresh salads this week. The bulbs are fantastic grilled or roasted. The fronds make a fun pesto for pasta too.

Fennel ready to harvest.

Cut fennel ready to go to the washing station.

Snow Peas-(Full Share ONLY)-The 1st pick of the season and the plants are loaded. Looks to be a great pea year for us this year.

Another great week in the gardens. We finished the final big early season job. Sweet potatoes ALL in and a month earlier than last year. We are thrilled. Our organic supplier had production issues last season and shipped late and we were pleasantly surprised when the slips arrived nice and early this year. We planted 3 varieties again and look forward to a jumbo harvest at the 1st Frost this Fall.

Sweet Potato Slips planted with my favorite stick.

We focused this week on weeding and staying ahead of the curve. We went down ALL the long rows and weeded our way along. The cucumber vines are growing long and we spend mornings pushing them towards the trellis so they grow up and and are well supported. A 3rd rotation of cucumbers went in over the weekend too so a nice long harvest window is expected. Scott tied up the tomato plants that look fantastic and we are even seeing a few tomatoes forming. Exciting!

Tomatoes forming on the vine.

All crops look really strong. Pea vines are loaded, zucchini forming, cabbage heading up, blossoms on the eggplant and little itty bitty beans too. Summer is around the corner. Our first harvest from the outside gardens was this week. Early kohlrabi and it was perfect. We will replant this area with another rotation of cabbage.

A happy time around the gardens. All the big jobs are behind us….Tomatoes went in as a family effort on Memorial day and that was the last of our HUGE jobs that had to be tackled. Just over 420 plants went in on a HOT! stuffy morning. The patch looks strong and we are thrilled. Peas are flowering and we picked our 1st itty bitty pea the other day. Somehow life transformed to Summer in 1 months time after that late April snow.

The jumbo watermelon patch was planted this past week and settling in.

The watermelon patch.

Summer Squash developing.

The second planting of cucumbers went in and a 3rd rotation to follow soon with seedlings waiting in the greenhouse. The hoop house is strong with seasonal lettuces and leafy greens and FULL to the walls…. We see the garlic scapes forming, broccoli heading up and the mini cabbages growing plump. Fruit trees are loaded again this year and long rows of sunflowers planted. We are staying ahead of the weeding duties so far and that always feels good….Schools out and summer has begun.

Looking forward to a great season.

SUMMER #1

A fantastic 1st Share of the season. A great harvest and almost unbelievable that 8 weeks ago there was snow on the ground! All produce is washed and ready to eat. 238 pounds of garden goodness is going home with CSA members today.

FULL SHARE

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

All full shares are packed in orange totes and on the right side in the cooler.